A Do-Over for Russian History?

Putin-Backed Manual
Spurs Concern Nation
Is Whitewashing Its Past

By

Andrew Osborn

Updated July 6, 2007 11:59 p.m. ET

MOSCOW -- A new manual for Russia's history teachers succinctly distills President Vladimir Putin's drive to rekindle patriotism, retelling events of the past six decades according to the Kremlin's preferred storyline: Russia is a great power that shouldn't be ashamed of its past.

Backed by support from the president himself, the book, which rails against U.S. hegemony, is raising fears among some historians that the Kremlin is --...